In the piece, Koch and Holden wrote that overcriminalization "affects us all but most profoundly harms our disadvantaged citizens."

Koch Industries and other employers will continue to do background checks on job applicants once they reach the stage of being offered a job and any criminal background will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The news was welcomed by Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, who said, "The fact that more and more of our nation's major employers — including a company like Koch Industries that is synonymous with conservative politics — are choosing to embrace fair-hiring policies shows that this is an idea with broad appeal whose time has come."